Mozart was killed by a hospital 'superbug' similar to MRSA, scientists have
claimed.

The composer's untimely death at the age of 35 has remained a mystery ever since he passed away in the early hours of 5 December 1791.

Rumours immediately began circulating that he had been poisoned, while theories over the centuries have included renal failure and tuberculosis.

Now a group of Dutch researchers has suggested that he died from a bacterial infection spread by soldiers which was rife in Vienna at the time.

By studying the city's death register, they found that the three most common causes of death among men of his age were tuberculosis, severe weight loss and a condition called 'oedema' or 'dropsy' – an accumulation of fluids causing the body to swell up.

Mozart's symptoms match the last of the three, according to Dr Richard Zeger, from the Academic Medical Centre in Amsterdam, who said it could have been caused by a bacterial infection.

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He said: "I think you can compare this to a superbug like MRSA or C.difficile."

Eyewitnesses who saw Mozart days before he died, including his sister-in-law Sophie Haibel, said he was covered in a rash – consistent with a bacterial infection – and severely swollen – consistent with oedema or dropsy.

The outbreak probably started in a military hospital with poor hygiene, before spreading to the wider community, according to their research, published in the Annals of Internal Medicine.

At the time Vienna was full of soldiers from the Austro-Turkish war who had been struck down by disease.

Dr Zeger said: "Austria was at war at the time so people were living in a bad condition and most of the deaths were among soldiers.

"You can see there was clearly an epidemic and we found that it started in a military hospital.

"There was some kind of inflammatory disease that almost everyone contracted and some people died.

"It was an epidemic of oedema, which is a collection of fluid.

"When your kidneys fail, they can't secrete body fluids so fluid accumulates in your body, which causes people to swell up and get worse and worse."

Such a condition could have been caused by being infected with bacteria from the Staphylococcus aureus (SA) family, or which MRSA is a more recent member.

"Mozart's body had swollen up so badly he was not able to turn around any more in his bed, showing he had post-streptococcal complications," said Dr Zeger.

At the time there were no antibiotics like penicillin, so strictly speaking the bacteria would not have been a 'super' bug as it could not have developed any resistance in the way that methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) has done.

Records showed more than 500 people died of oedema in the months around Mozart's death.

Dr Zeger postulated: "We still see the streptococcal infection today in close communities like schools and armies so that would be a good reason behind the epidemic.

"In Mozart's time, several soldiers in the army were also musicians who might have performed in Vienna, where Mozart might have contracted it."

The composer, who wrote operas including Don Giovanni and The Marriage of Figaro, was working on the piece Requiem on the day he died according to his wife Constanze.

Despite his musical genius, he died in debt and was buried in a communal grave.